Platini: Ukraine ready to host Euro 2012

Ukraine’s four host cities will be ready for Euro 2012, the chief of European football’s governing body Michel Platini said Tuesday. “At the next UEFA executive committee meeting I will definitely tell my colleagues that Ukraine is ready, that everything is in good condition and that we will be able to hold a great championships in this country,” Platini said. Platini spoke at the end of a two-day inspection of Ukraine’s facilities, including Kiev’s refurbished Olympic Stadium, which will host the final on July 1. Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk are Ukraine’s other host cities while Poland, which is sharing the competition, is providing Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw and Gdansk. “As UEFA president I’m satisfied with everything,” he said, adding that he would pass on the evaluation personally to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych later in the day. Concerns were raised that Ukraine was in no state to host Europe’s top football competition after it was hit hard by the global economic crisis, but most worries appear to have been allayed. Platini earlier in the day identified smaller issues, however, including short runways at Donetsk airport and the unfinished roof at the stadium in Lviv. Other problems highlighted by the media in Ukraine include a shortfall of quality, mid-price hotel accommodation.